[IST 605] 🔮 The Stitching Hour: Fiber Arts from Then to Now 🔮

This guide explores the rich history and hands-on practice of fiber arts, with a special focus on knitting and crochet. Designed for students, researchers, and makers, it highlights the cultural significance of textile crafts and the modern resurgence of DIY fiber arts.

This guide is tailored to support academic research, satisfy personal curiosities, and offers curated resources on the historical context of fiber arts as well as practical DIY resources for beginning-to-intermediate yarn enthusiasts. Here, you’ll find recommendations for databases, books, articles, online tutorials, and digital communities.

While not exhaustive, this guide offers a strong foundation for understanding how fiber arts have shaped and continue to shape culture, identity, and creativity. My hope is that it helps to connect historical perspectives with present-day practices, encouraging critical thinking about and appreciation of craft as art, labor, and community. So, whether you’re writing a paper or learning to cast on for the first time, let this guide act as a useful starting point for exploring the magical art of stitching.